Pistol shrimp killing fish?

[Keith rains]

Ive had several fish disappear over the last few weeks including a powder blue tang, flame angel, couple of blennies and a cleaner shrimp. I pulled my rock out and dipped it. I caught about twenty gorilla crabs and one large Caribbean pistol shrimp. I think the pistol shrimp is the culprit. None of the gorilla crabs are big enough to take down a tang I wouldn't think. Any experience with these guys doing do much damage?

 

[DianaKay]

Hi Keith
I've never had dealings with a pistol shrimp but I wanted to say:
WELCOME to Reef Sanctuary

I hope someone comes along pretty quick that can share some helpful information with you.
I'd think it would be more like a mantis shrimp somewhere in your tank to have done that much damage
How BIG is your tank & how long has it been running?
Very BEST WISHES solving your troubles...

 

[Keith rains]

Hi Keith
I've never had dealings with a pistol shrimp but I wanted to say:
WELCOME to Reef Sanctuary

I hope someone comes along pretty quick that can share some helpful information with you.
I'd think it would be more like a mantis shrimp somewhere in your tank to have done that much damage
How BIG is your tank & how long has it been running?
Very BEST WISHES solving your troubles...

I figured mantis as well. That's why I dipped every thing in the tank in hyper saline water. The pistol is the only thing that came out.

It is a 150 with 29 gallon sump. I started it from scratch 4 months ago and used rock from tbs. that is where these hitch hikers came from. I've have traps set fee several weeks and have pulled a ton of gorilla crabs out. The fish were healthy in there for several weeks before they started disappearing. I expected to find a mantis. I've had one years ago

 

[spiraling]

do you hear it clicking?

 

[Keith rains]

I never did but I could tell something was digging the sand out from behind the rocks.

 

[bazmackem]

Sorry I cant chime in re: pistol, but could you please tell me if I did a hyper saline dip could I then put the rocks back in the tank with no ill effects. I have a couple of suspect things in the tank (Eunice worm and something clicking!). I recently took out the suspect rock and gave it to the LFS to dip in RO water then recure for me but if there is a way I can do it myself and then place back in the tank that would be better. If so, what type of salinity did you use?? Did the shrimp survive and also what size is it?

Cheers in advance!!

 

[Keith rains]

I dipped them in roughly twice the salt concentration that I normally used. It killed a lot of crabs but some survived. I also rinced them in hit tap water to wash out the crabs Etc. I caught a couple of baby pistols and but them in my fuge. The adult jumped out of the rock as soon as I picked it up but since there were no rocks i could net him easily. I put them all back in and think it's fine. I never had any ammonia spike or anything as of this morning. I lost some sounded but the mushrooms and stuff that I couldn't remove all survived

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Start a tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics

Sorry to hear a powder blue tang is pretty big - could you tell anything from him after his death?

my 1st guess would not be the shrimp or crabs...

See what others think...

 

[mtsully71]

+1............. Keith, I have had a pistol shrimp for a few years and he has been housed with fish of all sizes, probably the least aggressive thing in my tank. Here's the thing, with what you have pulled out, it would only take 1 or 2 to jump on a sleeping fish and if others join , no fish in the morning. GL finding the culprits

 

[Keith rains]

I never found a body so I couldn't tell. Maybe was couple of the bigger crabs. I finally cleared them out. There were a ton :/. I left a dozen or so of the purple porcelain crabs though. I have half a mind to put my octopus in there and let him clean house before I start over and add more fish

 

[mtsully71]

I LIKE IT !

 

[ReefApprentice]

Tbs rock is prone to have a mantis hitchhiker. Keep a eye out for anymore snapping that sounds different than what a mantis sounds like. Other than that I know their known for all of the life and hh you get.

 

[IanReefer]

I had a pistol shrimp in my 90g once. I thought he looked really cool so I put him in their. You can actually hear him click, which creates some sort of superheated water cavitation that stuns fish (so he can eat them)

Personally, I did have a few fish go missing after I introduced him, then tore apart my aquarium trying to fish him out. Very frustrating. Some people have good luck with them, others get mean ones that are terrified at anything that swims past them so they end up "clicking" it to death. My little $12 pistol shrimp costed me $240 in fish.

 

[Keith rains]

I had a pistol shrimp in my 90g once. I thought he looked really cool so I put him in their. You can actually hear him click, which creates some sort of superheated water cavitation that stuns fish (so he can eat them)

Personally, I did have a few fish go missing after I introduced him, then tore apart my aquarium trying to fish him out. Very frustrating. Some people have good luck with them, others get mean ones that are terrified at anything that swims past them so they end up "clicking" it to death. My little $12 pistol shrimp costed me $240 in fish.

That's about where I'm standing. Honestly, it was the only thing big enough. I had a ton of gorilla crabs but everything is in the sump now. The crabs are octopus food now. What goes around comes around I guess

He was cool looking but not worth the risk

 

[StevesLEDs]

That is awesome....to look at in a video, but probably not in my aquarium!


Jeff